give 3000. A fig for M. Duplessis. I am Monsieur Louvier.' So when I
call on Thursday the house is sold. I reconcile myself easily enough to
the loss of space for a larger dining-room; but though Valerie was then a
child at a convent, I was sadly disconcerted by the thought that I could
have no _salle de bal_ ready for her when she came to reside with me.
Well, I say to myself, patience; I owe M. Louvier a good turn; my time to
pay him off will come. It does come, and very soon. M. Louvier buys an
estate near Paris--builds a superb villa. Close to his property is a
rising forest ground for sale. He goes to the proprietor: says the
proprietor to himself, 'The great Louvier wants this,' and adds 5000
louis to its market price. Louvier, like myself, can't bear to be
cheated egregiously. Louvier offers 2000 louis more than the man could
fairly get, and leaves him till Saturday to consider. I hear of this--
speculators hear of everything. On Friday night I go to the man and I
give him 6000 louis, where he had asked 5000. Fancy Louvier's face the
next day! But there my revenge only begins," continued Duplessis,
chuckling inwardly. "My forest looks down on the villa he is building.
I only wait till his villa is built, in order to send to my architect and
say, Build me a villa at least twice as grand as M. Louvier's, then clear
away the forest trees, so that every morning he may see my palace
dwarfing into insignificance his own."

"Bravo!" cried Lemercier, clapping his hands. Lemercier had the spirit
of party, and felt for Duplessis against Louvier much as in England Whig
feels against Tory, or vice versa.

"Perhaps now," resumed Duplessis, more soberly,--"perhaps now, M. le
Marquis, you may understand why I humiliate you by no sense of obligation
if I say that M. Louvier shall not be the Seigneur de Rochebriant if I
can help it. Give me a line of introduction to your Breton lawyer and to